Priced at $249.99 in the US, and at another handsome price of £300 in the UK (and don’t think you can cheat by buying the other country’s console– the 3DS is still region-locked), is it actually worth that much? So what if I told you Nintendo was making at least a number of 100 in both dollars and pounds? Yeah. They are.

Now, this is just hearsay, but judging by the raw materials of the 3DS and all of its components, the total tally should be something close to (but definitely a little larger then) $101 or £108.

Either case, Nintendo is making either $150 in profit, or even more, closing in to £200 in the UK.

Some analysts say that it’s the 3D glass-less component (that greatly diminishes battery life) that makes it worthy of its price tag. Others say, especially in the UK, the DS could have been sold for much less (maybe even £230).

However, though raw parts cost less on their own, there is assembly (labour) and the retailers. They get a fair share of the profit, and I believe the rule is increasing the raw price by some percent to cover such manufacturing and distributing costs.

Although no one should look at this and say “hot damn, I’ve been cheated,” but realize in the end, although the net gain of profit does go to Nintendo in the end, they still had to pay for all the workers who helped manufacture this technology to distribute to the public.

The 3DS has already hit stores, and having a strong Japanese line-up of games (I can’t exactly vouch for the North American’s side. My personal advice is stick with your DS for the remainder of 2011. Next year may get spicy.)

Source